Sunday, August 14, 2005

Shouldn't I be napping?

Seriously, Sunday afternoons are made for the nice afternoon nap. But alas, here I sit, watching my children watch “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” which is quite a charming little show. But on to the more important stuff.

I have in my hands a nifty litte Standard Report concerning the General Fund for the Village. As of 6/30/05, the Village is $36,019 ahead of the same time last year. This is a 14 percent increast over 2004. We’ve met 58.3 percent of the budget obligation for this year.

This is great news. I think we can attribute to a few factors. First, we have hired an excellent administrator for the tax department. His diligence has certainly been a strong positive force in collections. Second, I think we are finally seeing the first indications revenue-wise of some economic recovery in northeast Ohio. Ohio has lagged behind the national recovery for a couple of years now, and our little corner has been even further behind.

On the downside, we are carrying a deficit above and beyond our budgetary obligations. We should have some finances this year to “pay down” our deficit. While the U.S. government has the ability to run deficits without any real obligation to fulfill (hey, its politics, and somehow it works), small-scale deficits can destroy a Village like ours.

I continue to be torn concerning the recent decision by Council to put a 0.5 percent income tax increase on the next ballot. Certainly we can all agree that it is needed, especially in light of the recent statement by the Chief of Police. If things continue, we will have repaid our deficit in a few years, but it would seem that a few years is too long to wait to upgrade our Police Department facility. Perhaps the upside to the proposed increase is that it expires in five years (unless of course the voters allow it to continue). Its a clever addition that may push the tax increase’s support over the top.